Dragonhearted
by Xyrule
Summary: Luka perished in the fight against Granberia in Iliasburg, but the world goes on without him. Coexistence is a goal many wish for...even in the worst places.
1. Lawless Loach

Gold Region was considered the crowning achievement of the fight between monsters and humans. A land where cities were mostly free of monster attacks, and Ilias Kreuz patrolled and protect the citizens.

Still, Gold was a large country, and Ilias Kreuz mostly focused their attention on the western half near important port cities and trading depots. The eastern part was in the same position as most other cities in Sentora.

One such city was Loach, pronounced low-sh for some Ilias-forsaken reason. Nestled in the cradle of the mountains separating the region from Plansect Forest, it was in a very safe location geographically, though politically, it was in the worst possible place.

This far from Grangold, at the very edge of the nation's border, the government had next to no power, and the mayoral structure was nonexistent. It was a lawless town, ruled by gangs and criminals.

Still, in its own way, it was as equal as Grand Noah was in terms of monsters and humans. Life in Loach didn't stop for anyone, no matter the species, so everyone had the same troubles. Some worked together, some were enemies, some stayed out of the fighting and just tried to survive as best they could. That was just how life was.

~~~In Loach, South District~~~

"S-Stop, please!" cried a thin man, scooting backwards away from the cloaked figure in front of him. He froze and looked back as he found his back hitting a wall, and the man whose anger he'd invoked bent over onto a knee, staring at him with a frown.

"Isn't that what that child was saying to you a few minutes ago?" he asked, holding up the now-empty dango stick he carried in one hand. "You didn't stop then, so please tell me, why should I stop now?"

"She's a succubus, it doesn't matter!" the man argued, before his eyes widened in surprise as his attacker pointed the dango stick down, driving it firmly into his leg and causing him to shriek in pain, his hands instinctively wrapping around the wound as he struggled to focus, blood forming on his pants where the stick had entered his skin.

"That was the wrong answer." he said calmly, grabbing the tip of the stick and pulling it up, before pushing it back into the wound, causing the man to wince and shout as the wood stick splintered inside his leg. "Succubus or not, she's a child. If you're going to be a predator, at least target people who have a chance of fighting back."

He stood up, turning away from the man and walking to the subject of the conversation, who was huddled in a corner, her clothes torn to shreds. An unavoidable fate, but at least he'd made it there in time to stop anything worse from happening.

The man reached up to his collar to pull the cloak he wore off, draping it over her body, and she looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears. It was understandable, trauma was species-blind. He smiled down at her, holding a hand on her head gently. "What's your name?" he asked.

"M-Mincu-" she said, and he shook his head to cut her off.

"Not your species. Your name. Mine's Andrew."

She blinked in surprise, looking down at the ground. "C-Chelia…" she said quietly, and he nodded.

"Well, Chelia, let's get out of here." he said, holding his hand out and standing. The girl hesitated for several seconds, before accepting the offer, letting him pull her up a standing position as she pulled the cloak around her with her other hand, shivering where she stood.

"W-What about that guy?" she asked, looking at the man who now was more focused on trying to get rid of the dango stick than on the two, and Andrew smiled.

"Let Ilias decide what to do with him." he replied. "Or Alipheese. Whichever one he follows."

"Shouldn't we help him?" she asked, and he laughed.

"You of all people should have no sympathy for trash like that. People who prey on children are scum, regardless of who they may be. Let him lie there. He'll probably get away somehow, I don't really care." He started walking, pulling her along as he left the alleyway, sighing as he looked up at the darkening sky. "I suppose I should head back eventually, shouldn't I…" Hee blinked, before shaking his head and turning to her as they walked down the street, void of people other than the two. "Where are you parents?" he asked, and she shook her head sadly, wiping the tears from her eyes with the cloak.

He sighed, looking forward. "An orphan then...Then I'll take you with me. I know a place that can help you. Can't have you living on the streets after someone nearly got to you, huh?"

"Mister, why are you so nice to me?" she asked. "If I'm a succu-"

He cut her off quickly, tapping her forehead with the hand not holding hers. "Don't finish that sentence. I don't care if you're a mincubus, a succubus, or human. You're a child who needs help, that's all there is to it."

She went silent as they walked, the silence reigning for several minutes before he stopped in front of a stand, still open despite the hour...Then again, the fact that there were several weapons lining the walls behind the storeowner made it clear that the guy was not to be messed with.

The storeowner was sitting at a chair, reading a newspaper seemingly without a care in the world. He had good reason, despite this being a basic takoyaki stand, the guy was clearly built for a fight. He was taller than Andrew, and much more muscular. Still, when he noticed the man waiting at the stand, his intimidating appearance quickly dropped as he smiled, lowering the paper and standing up to walk to the display.

"Been a while, hasn't it?" he asked, before he turned his head, noticing the girl at his side. "Found another one, huh? I swear, you're just a magnet for trouble…"

"Twelve pieces, please. Whatever is good right now. I'm kind of in a rush." Andrew replied, and the man chuckled as he set to work making the order.

"Straight to business, as usual." he said. "You know someone's been following you, right?"

He nodded, twitching his head to the side in a nearly imperceptible motion, making it clear he saw the hooded person sitting on a bench across the street from them, barely noticeable in the dim light, but to his eyes, it was clear as day. "I'll handle him when Chelia's eaten."

The storeowner smiled, handing him two trays, each with six pieces of the food, and Andrew handed him the exact change without needing to be told...He came here enough that he had memorized the prices. He waved to the man, who simply went back to his chair as the two turned away.

"Here, eat." he said, handing one of the trays to the child, who blinked in surprise. "Don't question it. Get your strength up, that's all I'll tell you to do. I have to go talk to our stalker over there." With that, he left the girl standing in the middle of the street, watching him as he walked over to the hooded figure...before handing the second tray to him.

"You know wearing a hood doesn't make you look cool, right, Yorrin?" he asked as the figure stiffened, before laughing and pulling the hood off, revealing the innocent-looking fact of a man several years younger than him. The man gratefully accepted the offering of takoyaki as ANdrew reached into his pocket, taking out a cigarette and sticking it in his mouth. Rahter than using a lighter, he simply raised a finger to the tip of the smoke, a small flame igniting on the tip of his fingernail and lighting the cigarette, before he extinguished it and lowered his hand. "What are you doing here?" he asked as he inhaled the smoke, and the boy laughed.

"And you don't look cool wasting your fire on such mundane things as smoking." he replied. "Honestly, every human in the city would kill to get that magic, yet you use it for trivial garbage."

Andrew smirked, pulling the cigarette out with a hand to exhale. "We all have our vices. You've got Fui to handle your tension for you. Let me have my smokes."

"Who is he?" Chelia asked, walking to the two. Her tray was already nearly empty, only one ball remaining...Clearly she had been hungrier than she let on. Andrew turned to her and sighed, shaking his head and returning the cigarette to his mouth.

"Yorrin. He's like my annoying little brother." he replied, and the other boy made a faux offended expression, holding a hand to his heart.

"We haven't seen you in three days and the first thing you do is insult me?" he asked, though clearly he didn't really mind. "Honestly, you're such a stone cold dragon, aren't you?"

"I don't like that name." he replied. "I'm Andrew. I'm human. I don't like being reminded of my parentage."

"Oh, come on. What normal human would be able to use fire magic?" Yorrin replied logically. "You should wear it with pride."

"Pride doesn't mean jack in a world like this one." he replied, sitting down on the bench next to the man and patting the empty space next to him, which Chelia took. "How are things going at Frances?"

"As good as it ever is. Fui had to punish that roper girl we found recently because she was trapping the others."

"How long did she get frozen for?" he asked, and Yorrin shrugged.

"Ropers can handle a lot, so probably a while. She's still stone, maybe you can convince her to return her back to normal when we get back."


	2. Frances Orphanage

**Happy Halloween everyone! On candy duty, so I'm writing in between runs to the door. Who went out tonight?**

* * *

"Home sweet home." Andrew said in a monotone, pulling the glove off his right hand to scratch his neck. "It's about as loud as I remember, at least."

The building was once an abandoned storage warehouse, but now it served as the base of operations for Andrew's gang...whose main purpose was clear by the fact that even going within several yards of it, the sounds of children playing was obvious through the walls.

As they headed inside, the small group was hit with the full uninsulated chaos of the orphanage's residents, taking up the entirety of one of the warehouse's enormous rooms with members of many different species, anywhere from human to lamia. There were a few adults meandering around to keep order, and one, a basilisk carrying a young child that was a near-clone of herself, walked up to them, smiling as Yorrin went up to kiss her cheek.

"I return, with the Captain." he said, laughing at the monster's nervous giggle, a sound very close to how her name was said.

"I can see that." Fui stated, turning to Andrew and nodding, before smiling and bending over, letting the child in her arms go, and the tiny basilisk ran off to the main group as she smiled. "Fui, fui, and what's your name?"

"Ch-Chelia…" the mincubus said, shifting to stand closer to Andrew, who smiled and patted her head with his gloved left hand.

"It's alright, you're safe here. This is Frances Orphanage, the safest place in the entire city for children like you. This is Fui. She's the head of operations for the orphanage...Mostly because she's way better at handling children than us guys."

Fui smirked at the statement, nodding and crossing her arms, standing back up to face him. I'm the brains, I'll let you men be the brawn. Not that you're ever here, Dragon."

Andrew grit his teeth at the name. "It's Andrew. At the very least just call me Captain if you absolutely must use a nickname."

"Hey, you call me by a name specific to who I am, so why can't I use one for you?" she asked, and Chelia blinked.

"Your name isn't Fui?" she asked, and the basilisk laughed, shaking her head.

"We basilisks don't really name our children, so I never had a real name before I joined these dorks. Fui is something Yorrin started calling me since…" She trailed off, her brown face turning pink at the thought, and Yorrin grinned.

"Since she has a habit of going 'fui, fui' when she's nervous." he finished, and her blush darkened at the statement. "Hey, I think it's cute!"

"It's embarrassing, that's what it is!" the girl said. "And you gave our daughter a proper name, why not me!"

"Hey, it was your idea to name her Lorelai, not mine. I like Fui, it's a pretty name."

"Don't think being all sappy will get you anywhere, you still embarrassed me in front of our daughter again." She frowned, before the expression dropped as she looked at Chelia. "How old are you, Chelia?"

"Six." the mincubus said, and Fui nodded, holding a hand out to her.

"You'll fit right in." she said, before turning her head as her name was called, and she sighed. "I hope you're better behaved than most of these kids, it's such a mess here...Andrew, you need to be here more often...You have so much authority when you want to."

"I'm not about to start yelling at kids. I've experienced that enough myself, I don't want anyone else to have that kind of upbringing." he said, crossing his arms, and Yorrin laughed, wrapping an arm around the man's shoulder.

"You're too concerned about that kind of stuff. You're not as mean-spirited as you think. You aren't Berry."

"But I was raised by her. Children take on the attributes of their guardians...And even though she's my grandmother and a dragonkin, I know I've inherited a lot of her personality."

"Dude, I've never met her, but I can tell you're nothing like her. You wouldn't beat a kid into submission for not properly using a fire spell after all."

"Of course I wouldn't, but Chelia's seen first hand the kind of things I'm capable of. Imagine if I tried to raise a child with that kind of unstable mindset."

"But you did it to protect me." Chelia said, and he blinked, looking down at her. "And then you yelled at me for telling you my species."

Yorrin sighed, shaking his head at her statement. "Andrew...I know you want to be fully species-blind, but that just isn't realistic. Every species has a different method of growth, so we need to know what they are to take care of them. It's not racist to take care of them differently. This is why Fui doesn't let you handle Lorelai, you'd probably assume she's as fragile as a human child."

"I'm fully aware that there's differences in species, but Berry taught me that those differences don't mean anything. In the long run, there's only a handful of species who objectively need to be treated differently."

"And that's your problem. You think too logically. They're kids, not data. They don't act according to logic."

"Who is Berry?" Chelia asked and the two blinked, before Yorrin smiled.

"Andrew's grandmother. She's a greenscaled dragonkin." the man said, and Andrew nodded, sighing at the wonder-filled expression in her eyes.

"You're a monster?" she asked, and he shrugged, raising his finger to show off the female he could produce.

"I'm not, but I did inherit dragonkin traits. I'm probably the only human in East Gold to have magic."

"Considering that East Gold pretty much consists of Loach and the occasional rest city, that's not surprising." Yorrin stated. "But I've only heard of a couple magic-wielding humans in history, and you're one of them. Makes it a wonder why you don't believe in Ilias."

"I do believe in Ilias, I just don't worship her. What kind of deity just sits back when a place like this craphole of a city exists?" he replied. "What god lets a dragon beat on her human grandson for 18 years before finally letting him go? Ilias is real, but she's s no god."


	3. The Odd Guard

**Oh look, an update.**

* * *

"Come on, Andrew!" Yorrin complained, standing in front of the man to stop him from walking out of the door to the warehouse. "You've only been back for a day, why do you have to leave so soon?!"

Chelia watched the interaction from where she stood next to Fui, who held a hand on her shoulder as she watched the interaction.

"This is a pretty common thing whenever he comes back." she told the mincubus, sighing and shaking her head. "Andrew is a free spirit and doesn't like being around crowds, so any time he comes back, it's only for a little while before it's time to go again."

Andrew looked at his friend, stepping to his side, and Yorrin followed, before he followed as he tried to switch to the other side, and the man glared in annoyance at his friend.

"You can't stop me from going." he said. "I have other things to do besides sitting around babysitting children. You said it yourself, I'm bad at handling differences in species. Besides...my face scares the kids."

"You're our leader, you can't just vanish every time you come back!" Yorrin said, still trying to get the man to stay, before blinking as Andrew raised his left hand, pulling his glove back to show something on his palm to the man, though from her position, Chelia couldn't see what it was past his body, and Yorrin sighed, his shoulders lowering in defeat. "...Fine. Whatever, I know it's worthless to stop you once you show that thing off." He stepped aside, letting the man continue walking, and didn't turn to face him as he spoke again. "That's going to backfire one day, just so you know."

"It hasn't yet, so I don't care. It's not like I just go around showing it off to everyone I meet." Andrew replied as he fixed his glove back in place. "Besides, there aren't many of my kind here in Loach, so it doesn't matter. Now, let me go."

He pushed past the complaining man, who finally let him go, watching him push open the door to leave, though the hybrid stopped briefly to turn and glance at the mincubus he'd saved the day before, though he quickly turned and left without another word.

Yorrin sighed as the door closed behind his friend, before turning to the two, smiling sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "That guy...He just doesn't listen to anyone...When he gets it in his head he wants to do something, he does it, no matter if anyone else wants him to or not."

Fui smiled and walked forward to pat her husband's head, and his cheeks darkened at the action. "You're his best friend, you of all people know how he thinks. He's something extraordinary, he can't be bound to regular people like us."

Yorrin blinked, before laughing, setting his hands on his hips at the statement. "We're anything but normal, Fui! We're part of the inner circle of one of the most populous gangs in the city, and we've got like 50 children under our protection! Not to mention you're a basilisk, which are pretty rare in the east."

The monster girl laughed at the statement, before turning to Chelia and holding a hand out. "Well, now that Andrew's gone, there's no point worrying over his motives and this idiot's narcissism. It's about time to introduce you to the actual orphanage, rather than just this dusty old office complex stuck to the side."

The mincubus blinked, before accepting the woman's hand, and the basilisk smiled again before walking, the child following beside her as she turned to the man. "Don't bother chasing after him, he'll probably appear in a week or so with another kid." she said, and Yorrin sighed.

"We'll end up eventually having the whole population of South District in this place." he complained, following them as Fui opened another door, this one leading to the main room Andrew had taken Chelia into the day before...though now, it was much quieter, only a couple children running around following a single child evidently designated leader, being 'watched' by an adult who seemed to be some form of insectoid, passed out next to a lantern lighting part of the room.

The insectoid was some kind of silvery hard-shelled species, but as with many Plansect natives, the specifics of their species was hard to discern...and since they had no defining features on the chest or lower body, their gender was also hard to guess. Whatever they were, it clearly irritated Fui that they were asleep on the job, the woman marching to the spot and bending over to poke the insect, who grumbled and scratched the spot where she'd poked it with one of its clawed hands...one of four.

It seemed that a mincubus was by no means the oddest of species in Frances Orphanage.

"Kira, what are you doing?" the basilisk asked as the insect blinked a few times to clear the sleep from their compound eyes, before turning to roll on its back, arms splayed out around it on the floor.

"Taking a nap, obviously. They've got Charmeine in the lead, I don't need to do much guard duty for them when she's handling things."

Fui sighed, looking over at the kids running around, and true to the guard's word, they weren't really doing anything troublesome, just playing some sort of game totally unintelligible to adults. "Have her wings sprouted at all?" she asked, ignoring CHelia's questioning gaze between her and the group.

Kira sat up, running the spines of their claw over an antenna to smooth out the appendage, before shrugging. "No sign of them. She's been peaceful."

"What species is she?" Chelia asked, and the two glanced at her, while Yorrin sat down cross-legged next to the group and grinned, snapping his fingers together to catch her attention.

"For once she's not an Andrew addition." he said. "I found her in the fields north of the city a few years ago. She's got these big feathery wings that pop out sometimes, and any time they do, she has this weird phasing effect that sometimes messes with the other kids. It's not really a threat, but we have to monitor her."

Chelia blinked. "But...what species is she?" she repeated, turning her attention as Kira spoke.

"We have no idea. Andrew thought she was some kind of harpy, but the fact that she has arms and heer wings fold seamlessly to her body means that's probably wrong. To be fair, it's estimated that only 20 percent of monster species have been discovered and categorized...she may be a new one that we didn't find out about...Personally I think she's from the New World."

Fui rolled her eyes at the statement. "New World this and New World that. If there was really another continent across the ocean, someone would have found it by now."

"Ah, but that isn't necessarily true! The oceans are guarded by strong monsters who could tear apart a ship in seconds, and even here on the main three continents, there's being capable of blockading a whole route. For example, that storm over between Ilias and Sentora, it's completely unnatural, so there's probably some wind-element monster at the center…" The insect went off into a rant, which even Chelia ignored as she turned back to Fui, pointing at the insect.

"What is Kira?" she asked innocently, and the basilisk laughed at the simple question.

"Another of those 'undiscovered species'. They're from the heart of Plansect Forest where even monsters as strong as us basilisks refuse to enter. We...don't know their gender either, they won't tell us."

"They like it when we have to use 'they' to reference them all the time for some reason. I don't know why, it's irritating if you ask me." Yorrin said, crossing his arms. "They're part of our gang, but they're also involved in a research group studying the fauna of the world, so they like to rant a lot. Classic chatterbox lab technician type. Try not to ask them anything or else you'll just get an earful of nonsense."

True to his word, Kira had not stopped talking to even acknowledge that they had continued on the conversation, too wrapped up in whatever they were ranting about to care.

"Well, anyway, let's ignore this freak!" Fui said, clapping her hands together as her demeanor seemed to turn on its head. "Chelia, let's introduce you to everyone else...I'm sure they'll love having another friend in their age group to talk to, there's mostly older kids here so they never get the chance to talk to more than themselves."

Without waiting for the mincubus' reply, she pulled the girl's hand, forcing her to follow as Yorrin stayed behind with the now fully-awake insect. As she approached, the one in front, a tan-haired child who looked identical to a human, blinked and held a hand out to stop the others in their places, crossing her arms and frowning at the newcomer, who hid behind the safety net of the adult's leg-feathers.

"Charmeine, this is Chelia. She's new, so be nice to her." Fui said, and the girl's eyes narrowed as she seemed to scan the smaller succubus, before her frown morphed to a grin, her eyes closing to accentuate the mood swing as she turned to the group.

"Eega, you'll be in control of training her! She'll be the front guard we've been needing!" she ordered, in a surprisingly mature tone of voice, and the tallest child in the group, a girl with black hair tied in a ponytail and a slightly froggy face, smiled, stepping forward and performing a small bow to the surprised succubus.

"Eega will train." she said, though she struggled to get the words out, and the reason for the speech impediment became clear as her tongue flopped loosely out of her mouth...continuing to drop until the tip reached past her bellybutton, and she blinked, before her face went red as she raised her hands to push the tongue back into her mouth, while Fui smiled, bending over to get at eye level with Chelia.

"It seems Charmeine thinks you'll be best suited for Eega...be nice to her, she's self-conscious about her tongue."


	4. Leader Charmeine

Chelia looked up curiously at the tall girl she'd been assigned to, who wrapped an arm protectively around her as the adults left them to their own devices. Evidently, whatever she was, Eega was taking her duty seriously.

"What are you?" Chelia asked her, and the girl's face flushed as she looked away, and one of the group, a male human, laughed as he turned to face the newcomer.

"You're pretty nosy, aren't you? You've asked that same question for everyone!" He leaned forward to her ear, holding a hand to block the sound from reaching the subject of the conversation, though from the deepening of the redness in her faceit was clear that Eega knew what he was saying. "She's actually an akaname, but her tongue's like two feet shorter than a normal one's, so it's kind of embarrassing for her. We call her a frog girl instead."

He backed up, and Chelia nodded, looking at her guard in wonder as with her free hand, the "frog girl" seemed to sign something to the odd leader, who smiled.

"You're a mincubus, right, Chelia?" she asked. "Or a lencubus, maybe…"

"No, mincubus is right. Andrew yelled at me when I said that though…"

Charmeine laughed at the statement, shifting to sit cross-legged on the floor, and Chelia looked around as the rest of the group followed suit, before she, not wanting to be the only one standing, followed suit.

"Andrew's a weirdo." the leader stated. "He acts like he's unable to differentiate species, but he's pretty good at making up nicknames for everyone. David over there is 'Boh'." She pointed at the human boy, who grinned and waved. "Eega's 'Tsuyu', though...none of us really know why he calls her that. Spi and Rit aren't here right now, but he calls them both called 'Casper'."

"What does he call you?" the mincubus asked, and Charmeine swelled up her chest in pride as she pointed to herself.

"Little Angel!" she stated proudly.

"Angel? Are you an angel?" Chelia asked, and the girl grinned and shook her head.

"I have no idea what I am, but the adults call me one when they think we're not listening...Spi and Rit are good at spying on them because they can go transparent. Andrew says angels don't really exist, but they can't really just call me an unknown species, so he decided to call me one!"

"Didn't Yorrin say he was the one who brought you here, not Andrew?"

Charmeine nodded, waving her hands out to her sides. "Yeah, he found me in the grassland near North District. About...6 years ago, I think? I was only 2, so I don't really remember anything. Back then my wings were always out, I only learned to control them a couple years ago...though they sometimes come out on their own. I'd show you, but...any time they do come out, Kira freaks out and reports it to Fui even if I say that it's intentional…"

"Well, they said it wasn't normal, and they're adults, so-"

"Adults aren't always right!" the leader stated, crossing her arms. "They won't call Eega a frog girl like we do, and they act like Spi and Rit aren't even here!"

"Who even are they?" Chelia asked, and Charmeine shook her head.

"It's not really who they _are_ so much as who they _were_. They're ghosts who apparently migrated here from San Ilia. Spi's the sister and Rit's the brother. They don't really remember what their life was like before they died, so we like to make up backstories for them!"

The "angel" was an oddity, that much was certain. Contradicting herself, going off in tangents, and it was clear from the way she shifted her eyes around that she was hardly certain anything she actually said was true. Chelia was young, not stupid.

"I think angels exist." she said, crossing her legs and blinking. "I mean, if there's historical records proving that Alipheese I is real, then why can't Ilias?"

"No, no, Ilias is real!" David said, laughing. "I've seen her, in my dreams! She's pretty!"

The succubus blinked, before Charmeine laughed at the boy's statement.

"Pretty creepy. I've seen her too in mine. I don't trust her...but then again, maybe it's because I'm a monster myself and live with so many other species all the time!"

"This place has a lot of variety, huh?"

Charmeine nodded, grinning as she wrapped an arm around David's shoulder, the boy laughing at the touch. "Boh's my best friend, and where else in the world is a monster like me going to meet a human male like him and not end up with one of us dead or worse?"

Eega signed something, and the leader frowned. "Yeah, well, Grand Noah's far away!" she replied. "And they don't have humanoid monsters there!"

Another handsign. "Akaname are closer to Yamatai than Grand Noah!"

The succubus looked between the two as they traded what seemed to be an argument, though with Eega signing everything it was next to impossible to understand what they were talking about, so she turned to David, who shrugged.

"Eega likes to attempt to speak when greeting new people, but she usually signs everything she says." he explained. "They're just ranting to each other, it's pretty common."

Chelia nodded in understanding, choosing to ignore the two and instead turning to watch Kira, who had once again passed out, and the two other adults in the room, who were just chatting about something or another. From this far away she couldn't understand what they were saying, and it probably was nothing interesting anyway, so she turned back to the boy.

"So how many kids are here? Andrew called it an orphanage, but I've only seen like 10 people, including the 6 or so who are here but haven't said anything yet." She motioned to the remaining members of the group, who had said nothing since she came up to them, and who still didn't reply when she acknowledged their existence. Weird.

David thought over the question. "I think...Counting you, Spi, and Rit, there's 163 kids...though we like to add Kira to that because they're more immature than most of us."

"Kira's weird." she said, and David laughed.

"They're a member of some group called the 'Seekers of Truth'. A bunch of pretentious scientists from what we know, it's nothing that really matters much. Apparently David knows their leader, and Kira's probably here as a mark of peace between them."

Chelia tilted her head at the statement, unsure about what he meant by it. "Why would there need to be a mark of peace?" she asked, and he sighed.

"Frances Orphanage may be protecting all of us, but it's still a gang." he replied. "They have rivals...and since it has so many members, it has a lot of enemies as well. So they have peace offerings all over the place...even this building used to be controlled by a different group before they gave it to Andrew."

"...That sounds complicated."

"It really is."


	5. Exploration

**It's been a while, but here's another chapter. A bit rushed, but I haven't revisited this in so long that I have to remind myself of my plans anyway.**

* * *

Settling down at the orphanage was relatively easy, and as Chelia met more and more of the kids and started exploring the other rooms, things got more lively, especially when she met the overly-hyped ghost siblings.

Spi and Rit were exactly as Charmeine said they were. Ghost children of indeterminate age who seemed totally unaware of their own pasts, yet they played with the other kids as if they were normal, despite constantly going through walls, the floor, and various people...and the few adults taking care of the mass of children didn't seem to pay any attention to them at all, leaving them free to do whatever they wanted to. Maybe they just served no threat since they didn't physically interact with anything?

Still, they were interesting. Almost as soon as Charmeine introduced the newcomer, both had decided that she was interesting enough to follow her around even after the other kids were starting to go to bed, though Eega stayed vigilant in her guard duty, following closely behind wherever Chelia went as she explored the complex.

The orphanage was laid out much more simply than she'd thought at first. The first room, which Kira guarded, served as a lobby, as well as an empty space for Charmeine's group to play in away from the other kids. The offices were mostly empty as well, seemingly only meant for bedding and meetings for the adults. Rooms 2 through 6 were designed to suit various different species, from a large saltwater pool for slimes to what appeared to be a large greenhouse for immobile plant species and fairies, the glass built directly into the wall. Why she hadn't seen that section from outside when coming here was beyond her.

Room 7 was filled with beds for those who didn't need to live in a special climate, while the remaining three rooms were blocked from child access by two guards, one a human woman and the other a naga male, who despite being male still apparently went by the all-female species _lamia_.

The general population made the discrepancy between monsters and humans very obvious, with less than a third of the kids outwardly human and the rest either humanoid monsters or completely different...at one point, Chelia thought she saw the stone roper that Andrew had mentioned before taking her here.

It was an odd place, but it worked well for everyone. There were few if any fights, and despite the small number of adults, the kids were still obviously under control. An impressive feat, and one she suspected had nothing to do with Andrew despite being the "leader" of the gang.

Was Frances Orphanage really a gang? It didn't seem that way, none of the adults she passed seemed in the least bit threatening, even if a few had scars or weapons in hand or just seemed a bit rough in general. Really, the only one she felt threatened by in the slightest was Kira, and seeing as they were asleep most of the time she'd been here, there really was nothing to worry about on that front.

By now, night had fallen and many of the rooms were dark, including Room 3, which Chelia now sat in, lying with her head on Eega's lap as the two sat near one of the saltwater springs, dimly lit by the natural bioluminescence of a green slime sleeping in the water. The akaname was sleeping as well, her head slightly lowered as she kept one hand over her mouth to keep her tongue inside while she slept, the other hand resting on the side of the mincubus's head.

She'd learned during her exploration that Eega was over 14, but as an akaname, no, a frog girl, she had a much slower development than most of the other monster species thanks to her tongue taking up so much space in her head. It was sad to think about, but since she didn't seem too bothered by it, Chelia wouldn't either. Still, even knowing such a thing, Eega still didn't seem all that unusual to her. The girl would sign questions she had to monsters who couldn't understand speech, and she had made several efforts to pronounce her name, though all had ended in failure simply owing to her biology...so the newcomer simply let her call her "Li" to make up for her speech impediment.

"You've settled down fast." came the slightly-echoing tone of one of the ghosts, almost invisible in the low light, to the point that she had no idea which one it was.

"Yeah, usually it takes a couple days to get that comfortable." came the other, and the two laughed, keeping quiet enough not to wake her friend.

Chelia smiled, holding a hand up and outward, and she felt the odd cold sensation that came with the ghosts passing through in their version of a high-five.

"It's nice here...It's better than where I'm from at least." She shuddered where she lay, and the ghosts thankfully didn't press further, shifting to float over the water, where the glowing slime partially illuminated their features...Spi, the sister, was a faint purple, while her brother was bluer, though in this lighting the difference was almost impossible to determine, and they both were shaped virtually the same.

"We know what that's like." one of them stated, and they looked at each other, passing wordless information before turning back to her, and the other one spoke.

"We don't know what we were like before we died, but the person who resurrected us is really nice...She even brought us all the way here from San Ilia and let Fui take care of us!"

"What's she like? Is she your mother?"

The spirits were silent for several seconds, before shrugging. "Dunno. She's like us, she doesn't age even though she's really old! But she says she's alive, so...we have no idea who she is either. She's just the nice lady who brought us back!"

"And she revived us together too! She knew we were related, so she made sure we got to see each other again...I wish we asked her name before she left us here…" The one who'd said that frowned, and the other patted their back, though as expected, their hand went straight through.

"She wouldn't have told us even if we did. You know how that Andrew guy is, he'd hunt her down if he heard her name."

"Andrew's scary…" the first one said, and the other nodded in agreement.

"Is he? He seemed nice…" Chelia stated, and the two simultaneously shook their heads, so quickly that had they been alive they'd have probably broken their necks.

"We sometimes follow him when he leaves...He's a good person, but he's not innocent...The things he does when he's not around kids are more terrifying than most monster queens…"

"He's a gang leader, that's for sure...He's just very good at hiding it here. Fui and Yorrin are nice people and know how to take care of us, but Andrew never got that skill...We don't know much, but apparently he was raised by Granny Berry…"

"...He said that name before, but who is she?" The name had only been said a couple times, but he genuinely seemed to hate Berry, whoever she was.

"She's one of the few things we remember from our lives...A warlord dragonkin who once fought and defeated the 14th Monster Lord...and it's rumored she can even beat Salamander using fire magic...She's called it "Level 4" before. Andrew's her grandson, and while we haven't seen it yet, he probably has mastered fire even better than she has…"

"Is she really that scary?" Monster Lords were no joke, there was a reason there had never been one outside of the Fateburn family despite there being a battle royale every time a new one was needed. Was Andrew serious about being raised by a demon able to defeat one? It sounded unbelievable, but she'd seen Andrew defeat that guy in the alleyway with just a dango stick...but then again, that was nothing that any other random brawler could do. How much power was he hiding from the kids? For that matter...why did she care? He was an enigma, but he was an adult too...she had no business questioning an adult.


End file.
